Quest For The Secret Admirer
by forsaken weaver
Summary: Colonel Roy Mustang finds a love letter inside his table drawer and investigates on the identity of the one who wrote it. 2-chapter fic. Please r&r.
1. Chapter 1

**Quest For The Secret Admirer**

_I couldn't resist the need to write another MustangxHawkeye fic so I finally gave in and wrote another one. This is a two-chapter fic, I made it short so I can finish it before sembreak ends. I beg the readers to post a review afterward._

**.. …. . .. . …. .**

A floral fragrance tickled his senses the minute he opened his table drawer… which doesn't make any sense since he's a straight male and was never fond of feminine scents, unless, of course, they come directly from a warm blooded female's skin. Anyway, the scent irritated him, and he made it his mission to locate the source of that unusual aroma before somebody finds out and thinks of him as a homo. He already took out everything in his drawer when the culprit finally showed itself: a piece of yellow paper, folded at the middle. Something was scribbled inside, and it didn't take a while for the colonel to realize that he has an admirer.

"Lt. Havoc.." he asked when the clueless lieutenant arrived at the office early the following day. Poor Jean Havoc jumped with surprise when the colonel's authoritative voice boomed from within the supposed empty room. Normally, the boss arrives at exactly five minutes before office hours. In other words, Jean wasn't expecting him to be in his throne at thirty minutes before time.

"S-sir… you're early t-today."

"Do you always arrive earlier than everyone else?"

Havoc, with that irritating cigarette stuck in his mouth at such an early hour, lifted a hand and scratched the back of his head. "Well, not _always_. I came in late for two weeks straight and received a memo yesterday, that's why I'm early today. Have you forgotten? It's all written in the paper."

Mustang nodded, ignoring Havoc's reference to a particular paper he probably hasn't read yet. "Good. Anyway, do you have any idea if an outsider came into the office without my knowledge?"

"An outsider, sir?"

"Yes. A guest perhaps. Someone who doesn't belong in our team?"

Havoc's expression was that of bewilderment, he could not comprehend the importance of such questions at this time of the morning… unless… "Is there something wrong, sir?" He was already thinking if something important is missing from the office, a cause significant enough to haul the colonel off his bed earlier than he regularly does.

"No. No. No. Everything's fine."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Yes."

Havoc exhaled, took a seat and remembered something. "Sir, Lt. Col. Hughes came by yesterday… but you were out for an important task so Lt. Col. said he'll drop by again sometime."

Mustang's eyes nearly popped out from their sockets. "You mean, Maes?"

Havoc nodded, again with the same bewildered expression. "Y-yes… s-sir…"

Mustang had this gnawing suspicion at the back of his mind but he dismissed it quickly. Impossible. He had known Maes Hughes for the longest time, and if there's anyone in this world besides his wife who can prove the Lt. Col.'s a straight guy, he should be it.

Havoc eyed the colonel, who now watched the swimming clouds through the huge windows behind his table (like he usually does). Mustang was a man who never asked questions, especially unnecessary ones. And these inquiries at this time of the day must be of certain importance.

"Havoc."

"Yes sir?"

"The previous conversation never occurred. Do you understand?"

Now the peculiarity of the situation is 100% complete. "Yes sir."

The door opened and Lt. Riza Hawkeye stepped into the office. She was unable to hide her surprise upon seeing two males inside the office, two lazy males whose alarm clocks are normally set one hour behind the actual time.

Mustang, who looked over his shoulder upon hearing the door open, ignored the surprise on Hawkeye's face and returned to his cloud-watching.

"You're early today." Hawkeye said to Havoc. She was answered with a chuckle.

"I think you scared the heck out of him." Breda said when he arrived, overhearing the lieutenant's statement while on his way to the partly-opened door. "Otherwise it'll be impossible to make him wake up earlier than a regular early bird like you."

Mustang, who had been busy staring at clouds straightened himself up. Could it be Lt. Hawkeye? Well, she does come to work early, and leaves later than everyone else in his company. Either she was the one who placed the letter, or she knows the identity of the culprit who planted that letter in his drawer. Both possibilities require that he direct his inquiries to the female lieutenant, and face the chances of looking like an idiot were his estimates inaccurate. Imagine the look on Hawkeye's face should she find out that she's under suspicion of writing a love letter to his superior officer. With that in mind, Mustang immediately dismissed his initial plan, investigating on his own seems preferable (also with little room for humiliation).

x x x x

A weird, uneasy feeling kept Lt. Riza Hawkeye from doing her job properly. She kept running into the colonel for several times already, which, she dismissed as plainly coincidental at first. After sometime, she started being paranoid and noticed that the colonel has been following her. Wherever she went, the colonel followed (thank goodness the rest room is off limits). It wasn't really scary, but the situation felt kind of odd, especially because they usually work together. Apprehension, no matter how minimal, results to a significant change in behavior and a certain degree of doubt. Of why the colonel acted bizarrely remains as an irking question running inside her head.

"His sudden inquiry about visitors coming into our office makes me worry."

"If it's very important and concerns all of us, I don't think the colonel will want to keep it a secret." Fuery said to Havoc.

"Maybe it's personal." Breda wondered.

Havoc turned the faucet, scooped some water with one hand and splashed it across his face. "I don't know… its just that… something about it… seems…"

"Suspicious?"

Everyone jumped when Lt. Hawkeye entered the male rest room and interrupted their conversation. "You know, if you intend to talk about something that you intend to keep secret from everybody else, the least you can do is keep your voices down."

"H-how long have you been listening?" Fuery asked.

"Well, I just passed by the corridor, heard voices then somehow ended up in here. "She swept her gaze across the male rest room. "What was it about the colonel that you've been chattering about?"

Havoc gulped. "I'm ordered not to breathe a single word about it."

"And yet here you are, gossiping in here with three… no, four," she included Falman who just came out of the cubicle. "…of your officemates and you expect me to believe that? I can actually go to the colonel right now and ask him to reprimand you for not…"

She was on her way out when Havoc yielded. "Okay. Okay. Just for the five of us, alright?"

Lt. Hawkeye gave one of those haughty smirk of hers. "Of course."

Jean Havoc was left with no choice, and began a recount of his odd conversation with Col. Roy Mustang.

After hearing Lt. Havoc's tale, Hawkeye became hypersensitive to everything inside the office. During their accidental gathering inside the toilet, she did tell the other officers to dismiss the earlier encounter as insignificant… although she herself was determined to find out what's going on. When the day was through, she lingered inside the office and counted off the officers as they left. She pretended to be busy sorting out some papers, though she was in fact waiting for the last man remaining, Col. Roy Mustang, to leave. Pretty unusual, though, since he's usually the most eager to leave for home.

Mustang had been reading this particular document for the hundredth time already. His strained eyes are welling up with tears, which was further aggravated by his occasional rubbing. Shit, it doesn't seem like the lieutenant is going to leave anytime soon!

When he was sure Lt. Hawkeye wasn't aware, Mustang watched her walk toward one of the tables, open a drawer and deposit some of the folders she held in her other hand. What if it was Lt.. Hawkeye who planted that letter in his desk? And what if she was the one who had written it in the first place? There are few women in this office, and all of them had no access to his office save for the blonde lieutenant.

_Could it be?_

His hands were cold, his heart pounded hard against his chest. Unsure of what he should do in such a situation, he immediately left the office without a word.

Hawkeye inwardly rejoiced, waited for a few minutes to make sure that the colonel won't return, locked the door, then raced toward his desk. Nothing seemed unusual or lacking, so she proceeded with the sole drawer and rummaged through the messy contents. Nothing of interest, she's very familiar with everything inside (papers, papers and more papers) because she was the one who kept all of them in there in the first place (like most men, Col. Mustang never really cared about organizing his things). The lieutenant was about to give up when she suddenly noticed the faint floral scent coming from inside. She withdrew her hands and pressed them close to her nostrils. Faint and floral. She once again dug through the papers, this time more slowly, and found the intriguing source of the scent. This could be from any of Mustang's horde of women, and she never took interest in that part of his life… but something about this piece of sweet-smelling paper gave her the chills.

Following her intuition, she opened the letter and began to read. And out of the thousand possibilities that would come to mind, Lt. Riza Hawkeye thought of the one closest to the truth: Mustang is under the impression that she had written this damn letter.


	2. Chapter 2

The longer he thought about it, the more possible it became. Lt. Riza Hawkeye was ALWAYS in his office, sneaking anything, even a bomb, in his office would be a piece of cake. Moreover, they're ALWAYS together, it is not impossible for her to develop feeling towards him. She is, after all, a woman, and despite the military uniform and the pistol in her pocket, her feelings will still be the same as those of her kind.

He thought of the lieutenant and became uneasy. Her light-colored hair. Her big, trusting eyes. Her fair skin... her...

"WAAAAAHHH!!!" he rolled on his bed and recited a string of curse words until he was satisfied enough.

The following morning Mustang was back in his 5-minute-before-time ritual. Everyone was convinced that he's back to normal, and that yesterday was just... an unusual day. "You're right." Havoc said to the blonde lieutenant. "The colonel is a bit cranky, but he's pretty much the idle, cranky, normal boss."

Hawkeye shrugged. He's actually not back to his normal self, not yet.

Mustang was trying to concentrate on the five-page report he received from Fullmetal, but with Lt. Hawkeye standing right next to his table, who would be able to concentrate? He kept glancing at her whenever he had a chance, it didn't matter if he sees her face, her neck, her breasts, her b... boots. There's just this twisted feeling of satisfaction whenever he catches a glimpse of her. _This is a disaster_, he warned himself. First, he was awake all night due to unnecessary thoughts he'd rather keep private. Next, he's in his office giggling like some high school girl. _Concentrate you moron!_

Hawkeye left the colonel's side and walked toward one of the tables with stacks of paper on it. Mustang's faltering concentration vanished, and he was in some sort of innate panic when the lieutenant left. Did she notice? Was he caught? His heart raced like a freaking racehorse on cocaine.

"Sir."

He nearly jumped off his seat. "Yes!"

Hawkeye eyed him for that surprised look on his face before speaking. "I forgot to give you this. You might want to take a look at them."

Mustang looked at the papers and swore that her hand brushed against his when she placed the said files on his table. "Supporting papers concerning Fullmetal's report." the lieutenant continued. "You asked for them yesterday."

"Oh." He was caught staring at her. Luckily, Breda and the others were too absorbed on their heated card game, otherwise he would never survive such humiliation.

Lt. Hawkeye cleared her throat while feeling a burning sensation slowly creeping up to her face. "Anything wrong, sir?"

Mustang shook his head and diverted his attention to paperwork. That incident was the first of many extraordinary things yet to come.

At noontime, Lt. Hawkeye felt like a heated soldering iron, what with the colonel's constant glimpses and unnecessary stares. She was trying desperately to ignore the man, but he had earlier surpassed Lt. Hawkeye's maximum tolerance for offensive behavior… a record breaking feat for the colonel. Were he a different person she would've drilled an entire magazine of bullets in his gut by now… but he's the colonel, and maximum tolerance require an extension for up to extreme lengths.

She was in the cafeteria, minding her own business and quietly occupying a table for two when the colonel arrived. He secured a table at the far end of the room (thank God) and was busy speaking to another male officer. Lt. Hawkeye watched him, since he was definitely unaware, and found herself immersed in one of those dangerous "what-ifs". Well, he does seem like a good man. He keeps his word. Reliable. He's hardly a weakling and is capable of taking care of himself. He values loyalty and fights for what he believes in. On the other hand, he's lazy, somewhat obstinate at times, and has little value for time. She heard from the grapevine that he's a womanizer who juggles several women at the same time. Well, she could understand how that philanderer was able to fool a dozen of women… one look from those eyes and…

Mustang caught her staring at him and gave a mock bow. He had that stupid knowing smile plastered across his face which made her want to activate a nuclear warhead and blast this place to smithereens. Is there anything more embarrassing than to be caught fantasizing over her boss in such public place? She growled and began cursing herself with all the swear words she had learned over the years. Taking little notice of her unfinished food, she stormed out of the cafeteria in search of a more private place to steady her nerves.

When he returned to the office, things became a little bit different. The female lieutenant was occupying one of the chairs closest to the doorway -- far away from him -- and was busying herself with a book. She paid little attention to the other officers, and ignored the colonel completely. It's just her, her side of the table, and her book.

The idea was to pretend that nothing embarrassing happened at the cafeteria. But with what she had done, Mustang became all the more suspicious of her... but was utterly ecstatic about it.

An hour later, the eternally euphoric Lt. Col. Maes Hughes arrived (to make the situation even worse). Of course, he flaunted a picture of his cute little daughter like a flag and attempted to rub off his excess happiness to reluctant bystanders. He also successfully ruined the officers' second round of poker and tormented them with his unbearable jubilance.

And then he noticed Lt. Hawkeye who tried to steer away from trouble by fixing her eyes on the book. "My, my, my, what a strange day this is…"

_You said it_, Lt. Hawkeye thought to herself.

"What's that you're reading, my lovely young lieutenant?"

"Just a random book I found, sir." she glanced at the cover and read: "Guide-To-Correspondence-A-Book-About-Writing-Letters."

Mustang almost laughed, but was wise enough to pull off a straight face.

"What is this?" Hawkeye blurted out. "Why is there a book like that in this office?!"

Hughes and three of the four card-playing officers he disturbed simultaneously shrugged. Mustang pretended to massage his forehead but was in fact hiding his laughing face behind that gloved hand. Hawkeye frowned and slapped the book on the table.

"I borrowed that last week, on behalf of Fullmetal." Fuery admitted with a small voice. "I guess I forgot to return it." He took the book and kept it in his drawer.

"Return your books on time!" Lt. Hawkeye snarled, reprimanding the poor Sgt. Major who apologized profusely.

"Anyway…" Hughes directed his gaze at the colonel who seemed to be having a really bad headache. "Are you alright?"

Mustang removed his hand from his face and managed to say "I'm fine" as if nothing happened. The Lt. Col. marched toward the colonel's desk and grinned. "Have you read it?"

Suspicious Mustang looked back at him with slit-like eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Maes leaned closer and whispered, "the letter."

_So you're an accomplice to this, huh? _"Which one?" he whispered back.

"Well, unless you're recently getting a lot of _that_ kind…"

"Maes, get to the point already!"

"I'm talking about the yellow one."

"What about it?"

"Have you read it?"

"How did you…"

"Roy, it's just a simple yes or no. Have you read it?"

Mustang nodded.

"Yes!!!" Hughes rejoiced. "So what do you think?"

The colonel frowned. "Hughes, why are you so engrossed about that letter?" he snapped, giving away the secret that he and Hughes are whispering about. The officers inside -- Hawkeye included -- paused from whatever they were doing and paid close attention to the intriguing exchange between Mustang and Hughes.

_Letter? _Havoc and the others exchanged looks. _So that's what the weirdness is all about?_

Hawkeye and Mustang froze, making it apparent to the remaining officers who the involved ones were. Hughes, on the other hand, was too happy to notice the rising tension in the air. "It came from a fellow intelligence officer's sister who had a huge crush on you." the oblivious officer narrated in his usual, theatrical manner. "Well, I was chatting endlessly about our feats as young soldiers during my bachelor days… and then he said his sister had this huge admiration for you. Naturally, when the man came up to me and begged to deliver that letter on his sister's behalf, I was left without a choice."

"Really?" Mustang muttered coldly.

"Really! Of course I've always wanted to save you from your miserable single hood but that wasn't the true intention that propelled me into helping out that poor, young, love struck girl."

Mustang cursed beneath his breath. Hawkeye felt like she was about to swoon.

"So you were the one who placed that letter in here?" Mustang asked, pointing a finger at his drawer.

Hughes was beaming when he answered. "Of course. Who else would…" He stopped in mid sentence upon FINALLY noticing that something seemed amiss. He shuffled his gaze from Mustang, to Hawkeye, who seemed to be engulfed in a world of their own with gazes locked onto each other. Smiling, Hughes shrugged before dragging Havoc, Fuery, Breda and Falman with him out of the office.

**The End.**


End file.
